Cruise1st
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Cruise 1st TV - seems to be just a sales point for MSC cruises - where has the variety gone??
It appears these days that Cruise 1st TV has become the place for booking MSC cruises, despite their claim that they have close relationships with all the major cruise lines. There was a time when Cruise 1st had a reasonable variety of cruises, offered by a variety of cruise lines. These days, the channel has become an MSC shop window. You would think that any company like Cruise TV would offer an unbiased opinion of cruise lines and would want their customers to have the best experience, so that they keep coming back. I have sailed with MSC and there is a place for them in the budget end of the cruise market. They provide reasonably good cruises at good prices, but their ships do feel crowded and understaffed compared to some other cruise lines. MSC among a few others e.g. Costa seem to get a larger number of customer complaints and lower ratings from independent cruise critics. Much of the complaints about MSC concur with my experiences: overcrowding; low staff numbers, leaving staff rushed; and issues of cleanliness. I personally didn't experience any real issues of cleanliness, but looking into these, they relate to their older ships. For these reasons I am surprised Cruise 1st TV gives MSC so much air time. I previously raised this issue of the amount of time dedicated to MSC and did hear Derek mention it on one of his shows. I don't think he mentioned just as a result of me raising it, I am sure others have also seen the increase in MSC air time. It was suggested on air, that the reason MSC cruises feature so frequently, is because more people take MSC cruises than any other and so their cruises sell out quicker. I have to disagree with this statement. I checked for myself and according to the stats Royal Caribbean have twice as many customers as MSC, also Carnival have twice as many customers as MSC. I know they have a Cruise with Derek, which is with MSC, so there will be dedicated programs about that, which is expected. Often though the Cruise with Derek program can be bookended with specific programs containing only MSC cruises, it's crazy? If Derek did a 2 week 'no fly' cruise, which was not on an MSC ship (or Virgin), then I would happily join them. I would prefer 'no fly' cruising because when you are cruising, you don't want the hassle of airports, nor the restrictions of airports when it comes to luggage. I noticed there was a dedicated program coming up that was all about 'no fly' cruising. There are not enough of these available and as it was when I would be out, I recorded it. I sat down and watched it today and I was totally disappointed. I am sure it appealed to some, but I was disappointed that the whole program. although dedicated to 'no fly' cruising, was all MSC cruises. WHY? What's wrong with P&O, or Fred Olsen, or a number of other cruise lines that do 'no-fly cruises from UK. Also when showing 'no fly' cruises why restrict them to 7 day Northern Europe cruises; 14 day quick zip down to the Canaries and back cruises; or 2 night English channel booze cruise with a stop in some French or Dutch commercial port. Surely there are longer cruises offered from British shores that return to British shores that cruise sunny climates like the Med., or Caribbean over longer periods. I like that Cruise 1st TV have included what they call 'Luxury Collection' highlighting higher end cruising, but I was disappointed to see some of the options. If you are going to offer Luxury Collection, why not include some of the luxury cruise lines such as 'Regent Seven Seas Cruises', 'Seabourn Cruise Line' or 'Silversea Cruise' etc. Yes it is nice to know that MSC have a Yacht Club, but you can show that in any program containing an MSC cruise. You list many of these luxury cruise lines on your web site, yet we never see any programs that are dedicated to them, or even mention any of their cruises. If you really want to show us what the world of cruising is about, then let's see a wide range of options, from budget through to the luxury end. Some of these high end cruise lines are not as expensive as they first seem, particularly when you consider what is included in their cruise packages. So Cruise 1st TV guys, variety, both in cruise provider and length of cruise. If I wanted to go on a World cruise, I would want a good idea of everything that is included in that cruise before I considered it. I would also want to decide why it may be better to choose one cruise company over another when cruising the World. That is the sort of information I would expect to be able to get from a company called Cruise 1st. If I thought I want to take a 2 night channel 'booze cruise' or a 248 night Epic Global Adventure, I would hope that your shows could furnish me with all the information I need about these. Am I asking too much?